1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container closure and a device to install and remove the closure, particularly for a reagent in a clinical analyzer. In particular, the present invention relates to a bottle closure having reverse threads and a device having a reverse threaded spindle to remove the bottle closure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Clinical analyzers are known in the art. The VITROS® 250, 950 and 5,1 FS are analyzers manufactured by Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Corp. In analyzers, particularly automated analyzers, reagents are generally packaged in plastic bottles, capped and stored in refrigerated conditions. As long as the reagents are capped and refrigerated, they perform within specifications after many months of storage. Some reagent capping designs include passive seals such as so-called “duck bill” seals. However, passive designs are often inadequate because they are incapable of maintaining the internal pressure that builds up in a reagent container.
Other seals include conventional screw caps and other active sealing approaches, such as sliding closures described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,222. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,950,917 and 5,145,646. However, all of these designs require relatively complex capping and uncapping devices. Additionally, sliding closures, used on reagent containers of some diagnostic systems are complex, costly, occupy valuable space in the reagent supply rotor, and often require the operator to perform extra steps to load the reagent into a reagent supply.
Another design that has been considered by the present inventors is to remove the caps from the reagent bottles initially and then store the open reagent containers under controlled humidity and temperature to inhibit evaporation. In spite of these conditions, the inventors found that several reagents degraded rapidly. Subsequent investigation showed that these reagents needed to be stored in a container with a seal that would withstand positive internal pressure in order to avoid degradation.